Matvei Mikhailov

Name: Matvei Mikhailov (Or Misha, for a childhood nickname)
Pronunciation: Maat-vey Meek-hail-ovv
Gender: Male
Type: Furred Western Dragon
Species: Tundra Altaica
Age: 413 years of age
Date of Birth: December 13th

Personality: Matvei is distant; a cold, calculating, individual, with a penchant for flat, emotionless choices, and a remarkable ability to read, control, and manipulate situations to his advantage. He's secretive, tending to hold matters close to his chest unless otherwise forced to reveal them, and has a tendency for taking almost all emotions out of choices, reducing them to their simplest, mathematical concepts. He expresses little, if any, emotion in public, and even in private with those he trusts, he's never been a social butterfly. His cold exterior, however, hides a mountain of regret, guilt, and shame. All of which are emotions he considers alien and unwelcome, but not entirely undeserved. It's easy for him to blame himself, he holds himself to the highest of standards, and as such despises himself for even the faintest hint of failure. He rarely speaks up unless absolutely necessary, and prefers to keep his observation to himself to be potentially weaponized  at a later opportunity. Others often find his silence and piercing gaze to be unnerving, a conclusion Matvei is perfectly happy to foster should it benefit him and his intentions. But in a completely surprising flip, Matvei can be a silver-tongued devil when it suits him. He will change his outward personality on a whim should the situation, but is- overall- cunning, charismatic, calculating intense, and tight-lipped.

Hobbies: Matvei is a workaholic, he rarely grants himself free time. Even if he lets himself retire to his rooms, he often takes his work with him and stays up ridiculously late going over reports and defensive plans for the cities. As such, his sleep schedule is almost as bad as his sister's, but in his case it's voluntary. But, when he's run out of work to do, Matvei enjoys sparring, woodcarving, poetry, pressing flowers in his book as a remembrance to his mother, sculpting, writing, and swimming in the freezing ocean.

Likes: Matvei likes crisp breezes, clear starry nights, cold crisp weather, old books, herbal tea, calligraphy, sparring, reading academic and nonfiction materials, snow, soft fabrics, reading up on historical battles and figures, the nighttime,  sweet food and drink, and- surprisingly- swimming.
Dislikes: He's not a fan of heat, especially dry heat, fish and other sea foods, sour food and drink, and being getting rained on (all that fur takes a WHILE to dry and brush out).

Fears: Matvei is... Honestly a bit scared of his sister. After she snapped last time and nearly tore his eyes out, he can't predict what she's going to do like he used to be able to do. She's an unknown quantity, and that's dangerous. Matvei also fears letting Az down. Deep down inside, he doubts whether or not he's capable of doing his job. He's scared that someday Az will wake up and realize just how terribly he's performing, and will promote someone else to take his place. Overall, he fears failure in all facets of his life more than anything.

Quote: "..I failed my mother. She died because of me. I failed my twin sister. I thought she died because of me as well, but she lives. She lives, and she despises me. And I do not blame her for that, for I have committed many despicable deeds in my lifetime, and I will likely commit more. My only defense, is that I had no choice. One life, for the sake of thousands." #cce6ff



Place of Origin: Deep within Xøyan territory, the capital city
Tribe: Xøya
Position: Aeskörst: Schuze-Korst [General of Defense]
Language: Xøyan, Universal, Ki'shan, Ga'ar, Vuarish, and Arretiz.

Home: Within the Xøyan Capital
Parents: Andrej Mikhailov [Father, alive] and Taliana Mikhailov [Mother, deceased]
Siblings: Anatolia Mikhailov [Eldest sister, alive] Aleksandr Mikhailov [Older brother, alive] Kazimir Mikhailov [Older brother, deceased] and Katarina Mikhailov [Twin sister, alive and living in the Kaamil under the name "Taliah Brightmoon"]
Relatives: A number of various high ranking Xøyan officials
Mate: No, and not planning on finding one in the near future.
Offspring: No. Just- No.

History:

Spoiler:

Height: Matvei is 21 feet tall, 25 counting his impressive, spiraling horns
Length: Matvei is 29 feet long, 54 counting his long fluffy tail
Wingspan: Matvei's total wingspan is 64 feet

Scale/Fur/Feathers: Matvei is covered in thick, soft, dark grey fur, with jagged tiger stripes curving faintly to the left, and running from his head all the way to the end of his long, silky tail. His fur is a darker charcoal grey along his back, which is a v e r y slow gradient to a lighter grey color along his ankles. In addition to his heavy fur, Matvei has large, feathered wings of a lighter charcoal grey color, with his tiger stripes running up onto the furred arm part of his wings, but not bleeding onto the actual feathers. The actual feathers are just plain grey, albeit taking on a faint shimmering blue hue when the sunlight hits them just right.
Eyes: A brilliantly vivid shade of icy blue, like a frozen lake shimmering in the moonlight

Accessories: Matvei carries very little with him in his day-to-day routine: namely he has a personal journal, a book of pressed flowers, a hidden dagger or two, and a large flamberge sword named Lamentation. Additionally, Matvei has a singular, silver earing in his right ear: a small silver teardrop embedded with a sapphire of the deepest blue. It's the only semblance of wealth on his entire person, worn to honor the family members he's lost before their time. He also has a half-suit of armor to wear into battle should he require it, but it hasn't seen much action recently since he has largely been stuck behind a desk.

Horns/Spikes: Matvei has a magnificent set of light blue, curling, antler-like horns weighing down his head. Additionally, he has spikes jutting from his elbows and ankles, and pronounced claws on the end of his wings-finger-things, and rather long claws as well; all of the same light blue color.

Overall Appearance: Ref is from Flight Rising! Any further art of Matvei can be found here.



Abilities: Matvei doesn't have many natural abilities, most of his power lies in his physical prowess. But he does have a couple abilities: The first of which being his connection to his twin. Twins have always been special, they've always shared a unique bond, one neither strife nor heartache can sever. As such, Taliah and Matvei can sense whenever the other is experiencing a particularly strong emotion like love, joy, pain, anger, sadness, etc... They don't get any context to go with the feeling, nor is there a range on this connection. It just happens. Additionally, though it probably won't come up, Matvei and Taliah are mirror twins, meaning that one will often sleep on their left side, and- without knowing- the other sleeps on their right. Similar themes continue with their dominant hands: Taliah being right handed, and Matvei being left handed, their stripes: Taliah's curving to the right and Matvei's to the left, and other simple little things like that. They'll end up doing them unconsciously, and completely independent of the other's knowledge.

Strengths:
~Psychopathic Tendencies: Though luckily he does not express these traits as strongly as his father, Matvei has inherited some of the genetic psychopathic tendencies that the Mikhailov's are famous for, and as such is considered a high functioning psychopath. These traits make it hard for him to understand the emotions of those he's not close to, and hard for others to get close to him by emotional appeals alone. The benefits of these traits is that they make him extraordinarily intelligent, driven, determined, or calculating, secretive, and utterly charming when he wants to be (although he's generally not a fan of many individuals).

~Cold Resistance: Matvei's thick fur and feathers make him very well equipped to handle intense winter winds and weather. He's highly resistant to cold temperatures, weather, and other frigid effects. This resistance also applies to cold-based magics, but only when they're area of effect spells or status effects; being fluffy won't help him escape icy chains or anything like that.

~Built For The Arctic: (Counts for 2 strengths, strong and dexterous) Matvei's family lived in the Icello region for countless generations, fending for themselves in the icy wilderness for centuries before finally seeking out a tribe of similar principles to their own: The Xoya. And the Mikhailov family's biology reflects that feral inclination to this day. As such, Matvei is built like a big cat: he is slightly stronger, more dexterous, and stealthier than an ordinary dragon would be. It's not suuuuper noticable, and he can still be overpowered by super strong dragons, but it's just enough of a boost to make him slightly better than the average dragon.

~Heightened Senses: Again thanks to his heritage, Matvei's senses- taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing- are all much sharper than an ordinary dragon's senses. Additionally, as is rather common in the Xoya, Matvei has excellent night vision. He can see in pitch blackness as well as others can see at dawn or dusk, but the catch is that he can only see in greyscale like this (with the occasional hints of various blues).

~Excellent Stealth: Matvei's dark coat is a hereditary trait going back many generations in his family, perfectly evolved to let him- almost effortlessly- blend into the shadows. Add that to the advanced Xoyan stealth training he received while training for the field, and you end up with a VERY stealthy dragon indeed.

~Excellent Training: Matvei is an individual with great physical strength, and more importantly- control. Having all the strength in the world won't help you if you can't control yourself long enough to do simple tasks. Matvei has trained long and hard to maintain the level of control and power that he currently possesses, and enjoys testing himself against his fellows on the rare occasion he grants himself a moment's respite. He is proficient in almost every type of weapon, except- perhaps- some of the more exotic ones, and is particularly skilled with the fisticuffs/melee variety.

Weaknesses:
~Psychopathic Tendencies: Though luckily he does not express these traits as strongly as his father, Matvei has inherited some of the genetic psychopathic tendencies that the Mikhailov's are famous for, and as such is considered a high functioning psychopath. While they come with a couple advantages, they also come with a several disadvantages. These traits make it hard for him to understand the emotions of those he's not close to, and hard for others to get close to him by emotional appeals alone. He has a hard time anticipating the emotional reactions to his decisions that others may display, and as such often underestimates the extremities of their reactions.

~Perfectionist: A direct effect of Matvei's increased intelligence is his aversion to failure. He KNOWS he can do better- maybe even be the best- so he simply has to be as perfect as possible. He checks, double checks, and triple checks his work for ANY possible errors, and will obsessively fix any mistakes he finds; whether it's in his work, personal life, tactics, politics, or any other area of his life. This obsession with perfection leaves him particularly vulnerable to criticism as he searches for better and more efficient ways to do whatever it is. With trivial matters he's fine, but as the consequences become increasingly more dire, this trait kicks in more and more.

~Dark Furred Coat: Although it helps with hiding in the shadows, his dark coloration makes him pretty easy to spot on lighter colored surfaces. So- even if it's at night- he'd be screwed if he were to try to hide out on the snow, as he would just show up as a huge, dark blob. Maybe he could be mistaken for a rock? But those large blue horns are pretty distinctive.

~Heat: Since black and other dark colors absorb heat really well, the combination of dark coloration AND thick fur/feathers A. makes it very easy to get him overheated in hot environments, and B. Means that heat based abilities damage and affect him more than usual. Additionally, being so heavily furred means it's remarkably easy to set Matvei on fire, really all it takes is a couple relatively weak fire spells to get it going; or one or two strong fire spells.

~Unarmored: Being the furred dragon he is, Matvei lacks the natural protective scales many other dragons possess. So, where a scaled dragon's scales might deflect a blade, claws, or most other sources of damage, Matvei is forced to take the brunt of that damage as his fur doesn't exactly defend him very well. This can be negated somewhat if he wears his armor, but he only wears that when he knows he's going into battle. It's very heavy and awkward to wear all the time, so he doesn't just wear it all the time.

~Sensory Overload: Matvei's senses are sharp, incredibly so, but with that gift comes a curse: He's easily stunned by any sudden change, bonus points if said sudden change affects more than one of his senses at once. If one sense is affected, he is stunned for 1 post. If you can affect 3 senses at once, he's stunned for 2 posts, and if you can somehow manage to overload all 5 senses- A. Kudos to you, and B. He'll be stunned for 3 posts. While stunned, Matvei can only move at half speed, and whatever senses were effected are rendered mostly useless for the duration. (If sight was affected, he'd be mostly blind; if hearing was effected, he'd be mostly deaf, etc...)

~Insomnia: Matvei barely sleeps. He's constantly staying up to ridiculously late hours while filling out forms and reading over reports, he'd be lucky to get a couple hours sleep per night. He runs himself into the ground with exhaustion, again, and again, and again, and again in an effort to live up to the expectations he (and others, he believes) holds for himself. He's rarely gotten a full night of sleep ever since he was promoted to General, over a hundred ago. He's incredibly easy to disturb in the rare moments of sleep he does manage to catch as well, meaning it takes FOREVER for him to fall asleep in the first place, and even then there's no guarantee that he'll stay asleep long enough for it to really help him. As such, he's usually exhausted and sleep deprived in some fashion whenever he's up and about. He also doesn't heal as fast as others do (not super noticeable, but it mainly matters with major wounds; he takes a few days to a few weeks longer to heal than others).

~Insecurity: It's hard to get through to Matvei. If you don't know him, it's like talking to a brick wall; and even if you do know him, it's like trying to assault a well-defended fortress. See, Matvei has both a knack for expecting too much of himself and being furious with himself when he inevitably fails to meet those expectations. Other than the obvious immediate problems, another issue arises from this: In his eyes, Matvei has perfectly justifiable reasons for doubting himself and his abilities. AND he excels in "proving" this to any friends or family who might try to convince him otherwise. If he can't meet his own expectations, then surely it's only a matter of time before he fails those most important to him. This weakness has made him very driven and determined, but at the cost of his health- both physically and mentally. Matvei has, is, and will run himself into the ground in an effort to fulfil these lofty- and inherently unrealistic- aspirations. He has a psychological need to do better, he already got his mother, and nearly his twin sister killed- He cannon let his incompetence be the cause of any more death and destruction, especially now that Azreyus has trusted him with such a lofty position. And he cannot- will not- let the Kommandant down. Even if it kills him.

~Heavy Is The Head That Bears The Horns: Matvei has a magnificent set of light blue, curling, antler-like horns weighing down his head. They're beautiful, but are largely for display purposes, and cause Matvei a variety of problems. Namely, they often get caught on doorways, trees, vines, and any number of other environmental hazards he might find. Ordinarily, this would just be a hassle, but in combat, this can be significantly more dangerous. In combat, any sort of thrown weapon like a bolo will easily tangle in his horns, and if there are enough of them tangled there, it could easily offset his balance and send him reeling. Additionally, any sort of rope would easily tangle in his horns as well, making it much easier to pull him onto the ground, and pin him there by holding down his horns. He's still strong! But pinning his head down like that provides a serious advantage to any oponents.

Fighting Style: Matvei is a physical fighter; he's incredibly talented in the art of blades, with a particular talent for stealth attacks and being a front line fighter. He prefers to stick to the shadows and strike at once, dealing as much damage as possible in a single blow. But, should that not finish the job, Matvei is an equally capable physical fighter.

Magic: Matvei's magic is based around ice and water manipulation. None of this is, or will grow to be in the future, very powerful, but it's useful, and it's versatile. And that's enough for Matvei's purposes.

~Ice Conjurations: The arctic tundra is Matvei's heritage, his birthright; his family has thrived in the snow for as long as anyone can remember. It's only natural that the Mikhailov's would grow to have some degree of control over this harsh landscape they lived in. He can create objects as large as a table over 3 posts [2 per 6 hours], objects the size of a chair in 2 post [4 per 6 hours], and objects smaller than a plate over 1 post [8 per 3 hours]. These smaller conjurations are what he uses most: paperweights, pins, ice daggers for when he needs to defend herself- You name it! He needs water and/or moisture to create these conjurations (making them in a desert is near impossible unless he brings water with him) so they will stay in whatever form he made them in until they melt or break. It's just normal ice, so it's as easily broken or melted as normal ice would be.

~Water Manipulation: Matvei possesses a limited ability to control water within a certain radius of himself. He can manipulate water he can see within 60ft of himself, and either draw it closer to be used in his Ice Conjurations or manipulate it into something else using this branch of magic. He can freeze water or melt ice, form liquid water into fantastic shapes before freezing it, or even boil the water. He can freeze or melt 5 square feet of water or ice every 2 posts (proportionally, something about the size of a few bricks), and can do this up to 10 times per 6 hours. Manipulating liquid water is by far the easiest for Matvei, and as such he can do it the longest out of everything else. This water manipulation is literally just moving around liquid water, it could be used as a squirtgun, or to make fascinating ice sculptures, but he can't use it to bludgeon, pierce, or slash anyone to death. He can manipulate up to 20 gallons of water that he can see within 60ft of him at a time, for up to 3 hours per day. He can only do it for half an hour at a time before needing to take a break for as long as he used his magic for, if not longer.

Just for clarification, Water Manipulation doesn't include blood or bodily fluids, correct? If so;

~1/2 Approved~

Nope! Neither Matvei nor Taliah can manipulate blood. I was debating it for a little bit, but eventually decided it would be too easily abused and too hard to really put limits on. So no, no blood or other body fluids; though similar, they're too structurally different.

Sliiiiiight bump!

2/2 Approved.

out for edits

Bump for reapproval!

Changelog:
- Some personality wording
- Fixed some formatting issues
- Fixed pronunciation issues (you're welcome Az)
- Bumped his size down to meet the new limits!
- Spoilered his backstory and added some content warning because w o w I'm concerned about myself- /hj

Reapproved